“I’ve always had people in my life help me and push me. I would feel just awful if I didn’t give the knowledge and the wisdom I have gained throughout the years, if I didn’t pass it on or pay it forward to young people,” Allen told Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin.

Allen is reaching out to students through the “Quest for Real Life Success” after-school program, which is considered the core of his Will Allen Foundation.

The program kicked off in 2010 at two high schools in Tampa, Fla., where Allen played as a member of the Buccaneers before joining the Steelers. It has since expanded to Allen’s high school alma mater in Ohio and North Hills High School in Pittsburgh.

“I think it’s really helped all of us become prepared for the future,” said North Hills High School student Sydney Brown. “In the next couple of years, there are so many things coming up -- taking the SATs, college admissions -- and it’s helped us approach that one step at a time.”

But students, like Brown and her classmates at North Hills High School, learn more than just book smarts. Allen’s program extends beyond the classroom to subjects like professional development, strategic planning and financial management. It also covers social issues, such as bullying and drug use.

“We want this to be a safe place where these students can really talk about these things openly (and) they feel they can work with one another (and) they can see Will and myself as mentors and really ask us questions that maybe they don’t feel comfortable asking their teachers and parents,” said Quest program coordinator Alexis Maddox, who has known Allen since college.

At the end of the day, the students are quizzed in a Jeopardy-style game about what they’ve learned.

“I said, ‘Let’s just quiz them over everything we’ve done but make it fun.’ They’re in school all day. Let’s do something fun, entertaining for them. (Let’s) give them a team, a competitive nature. I think that’s also what they need to know -- how to be competitive but have fun while they’re doing it,” said Allen.

Allen told Wiggin he enjoys empowering young people and helping them see who they are and where they want to go in their future.

“I guess it’s just being in the NFL and wanting more for myself. Seeing what else is out there. You know, having the self-motivation to do more, to want more,” he said. “I had the pleasure and the blessing of being around so many great people, and I said, ‘If I had the blessing to be around them, why can’t I allow this for someone else?’ That was my passion behind it. That was just my goal and my heart behind it.”

As for where he got his desire to be a mentor, Allen credits his parents, especially his father, Keith.

“I kind of learned most of this from him, just through growing up, watching him mentor young people, because he was a baseball coach and a football coach,” he said.

Allen said many former players will stop his father and thank him for the role he played in their lives.

If Allen’s current efforts are any indication, it’s likely he too will one day be stopped by a former student who just wanted to say “thank you.”